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East Notes: Schultz, MacLean, Pastrnak

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Jim Rutherford’s comments last month that singled out defenseman Justin Schultz certainly made it seem like the Penguins would be walking away from the pending UFA next season.  He put any possibility of a reunion to rest recently, confirming to Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that they won’t bring the veteran back:

We’ll move on from Justin.  He’s going to do better in the marketplace than what he can do here, based on our cap situation.

Schultz was quite productive in his first full season with the Penguins when he had 51 points in 78 games but he has had trouble staying healthy since then, suiting up in just 75 games over the last two seasons combined.  His production has tapered off in that time while he struggled defensively as well.  A change of scenery could certainly do the 30-year-old some good although he’ll certainly be looking at a big dip in pay from the $5.5MM cap hit he had this season.

More from the Eastern Conference:

  • The Blue Jackets will be parting ways with assistant coach Paul MacLean, reports Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription required). He joined Columbus partway through this season with the hopes that he’d be able to help their power play.  However, losing several of their top forwards proved to be too much to overcome; while the team was slightly better with the man advantage after he joined them midseason, the gain was only incremental from 15.6% to 16.8% and overall, they finished in the bottom five in the league.  Things weren’t any better in the playoffs as their power play limped to just an 8.8% success rate.
  • Bruins winger David Pastrnak played through the postseason with a lingering lower-body injury that also played a role in his limited participation during training camp, relays NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty. Despite the injury, he was still productive in their series loss to Tampa Bay, picking up two goals and four assists in the five games.  Head coach Bruce Cassidy indicated that he doesn’t believe that Pastrnak, or any of Boston’s other players that are banged up, will need surgery.

Dan Muse, Adam Nightingale Named NTDP Head Coaches

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Over the last few weeks USA Hockey had lost several coaches from their National Team Development Program to other positions in the hockey world, but today they’ve found some replacements. Dan Muse and Adam Nightingale have been named head coaches of the NTDP, heading up the U18 and U17 teams respectively.

Muse has served as an assistant coach for the Nashville Predators for the past three seasons after previously working as the head coach of the Chicago Steel of the USHL. Twice he was a video coach with USA Hockey at the U20 World Juniors and has plenty of experience as an assistant with Yale in the NCAA as well.

He’ll be joined by assistants Dan Hinote and Mike Leone behind the bench of the U18 team.

Nightingale meanwhile has worked with the Detroit Red Wings for the last several seasons, first as a video coach and then an assistant in 2019-20. He’s served as video coach for USA Hockey’s World Championship squad the last three years and was previously the Director of Hockey Operations at Michigan State University.

He’ll be joined by assistants Nick Fohr and Brent Darnell behind the bench of the U17 team.

Seth Appert and John Wroblewski, who previously held the positions, both took head coaching jobs in the AHL this summer.

Claude Julien Recovering, Will Return As Montreal Head Coach

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Though the Montreal Canadiens weren’t able to make it past the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the playoffs, some good news has still come out today. Claude Julien, who was taken to hospital a few weeks ago with chest pains and underwent a procedure to stent his coronary artery, has recovered and indicated he would have returned to Toronto’s bubble had the team won game six. Julien confirmed that he will be back as head coach of the Canadiens next season.

It is good news for a legendary coach who is approaching 700 regular season wins in his career. Julien won the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011 and has an all-time record of 658-440-10-148 in the regular season. That’s good enough for 13th on the all-time wins list.

The Canadiens have work to do this offseason to get their roster ready for another playoff run, but it appears that head coach will not be one of the spots to fill. Julien is under contract through the 2021-22 season with Montreal.

Coaching Notes: Washington, Ward, Tortorella

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The Washington Capitals decided to move on from Todd Reirden after just two years as head coach and won’t be taking another risk with their next hiring. That’s what Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic says in his latest column, explaining that the Capitals are focused on bringing in a proven head coach instead of giving another newcomer an opportunity.

That means the names are familiar ones when discussing the Capitals coaching vacancy. Gerard Gallant, Peter Laviolette and Mike Babcock are the first three names that LeBrun mentions, though even former Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau gets a few paragraphs as well. Washington went 89-46-16 under Reirden since winning a championship in 2018 but were quickly dumped in the playoffs both years. Still in their win-now window with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom leading the way, Washington is also looking for a coach that will “hold the team’s top players accountable.”

  • Geoff Ward spoke to reporters including Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet yesterday and explained that he would consider a return to the organization even if the Calgary Flames decided to go in a different direction at head coach. Ward would obviously rather take the head coaching position himself, but declined the opportunity to campaign for it through the media. He took over as head coach when Bill Peters resigned early in the season and led the Flames to a 24-15-3 record, but was also part of the collapse against the Dallas Stars. The Flames allowed seven straight goals in an elimination game and Ward pulled starter Cam Talbot and then reinserted him during the collapse. With substantial changes likely coming in Calgary, they may also want to go with a different face behind the bench.
  • One coach that likely isn’t going anywhere this offseason is John Tortorella, even though his Columbus Blue Jackets failed to advance past the first round. Even getting that far was seen as quite the accomplishment for the veteran coach, but he’ll lose out on a little salary in the process. The league today fined Tortorella $25,000 for his comments (or more specifically his lack of comments) after game five against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tortorella took two questions and then stormed out of the press conference, obviously frustrated with the loss. The penalty is actually a collection of the conditional fine that was assessed on January 1 after a previous incident. This is the 13th time Tortorella has been disciplined by the league.

Capitals Notes: New Coach, Samsonov, Holtby, Ovechkin

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After the Washington Capitals announced they had fired head coach Todd Reirden earlier today, general manager Brian MacLellan answered a number of questions about the team, particularly about the head coaching change. With so much criticism being directed at Capitals ownership and management about their unwillingness to spend money on a veteran head coach (they have hired first-time coaches in five of their last six hires), MacLellan admitted the team will definitely look at a coach with some experience.

“I think we need an experienced coach,” said MacLellan (via NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti and ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. “We have an experienced group. I think we had a good culture here and it’s starting to slip … I think we’ve developed a habit of thinking that we can play good when we have to play good, rather than developing good habits.”

That could open up the team to go after one of the many experienced and successful coaches that became available during the 2020-21 season, including Gerard Gallant, Mike Babcock, Peter Laviolette and Bruce Boudreau.

MacLellan also said that he was disappointed two years ago that the Capitals and (former head coach) Barry Trotz couldn’t come to an agreement after they won the Stanley Cup in 2018. He added that the team was willing to pay Trotz market value, but failed to agree on term.

The GM added that the team is in no rush to hire a head coach and will take their time to find the best possible candidate, according to Gulitti. Nothing has been determined regarding Reirden’s assistant coaches either.

  • The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell reports that goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who didn’t go to Toronto with the team due to an off-ice injury, has been getting therapy for his injury for six weeks and the team is expected to evaluate him in two weeks to see how he’s doing. The Capitals expect him to be ready for the 2020-21 season. The 23-year-old looks to be the goaltender of the future after an impressive rookie season in which he sported a 2.55 GAA and a .913 save percentage in 26 games.
  • MacLellan, at the press conference, also admitted that the Capitals chances of bringing back starting goaltender Braden Holtby is “going to be difficult,” according to Wyshynski. However, he also admits that nothing has been decided about the 30-year-old, who will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason. Holtby didn’t fare well during the regular season with Washington, posting a 3.11 GAA and a .897 save percentage in 48 games. However, he did fare somewhat better during the playoffs with a 2.49 GAA and a .906 save percentage in eight appearances.
  • Gulitti also notes that MacLellan said that he isn’t that concerned about extension talks with star forward Alex Ovechkin. The GM said he will talk to Ovechkin when players arrive at training camp later this year. The soon-to-be 35-year-old is still playing at top form, scoring 48 goals during the shortened regular season as well as another four goals in the team’s eight playoff games. He has one year remaining on his 13-year, $124MM deal that he signed back in 2008.

Washington Capitals Relieve Todd Reirden Of Coaching Duties

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The Washington Capitals announced they have fired head coach Todd Reirden after just two years as head coach of the team after another disappointing playoff finish.

“We have higher expectations for our team, and we felt a fresh approach in leadership was necessary,” said general manager Brian MacLellan. “We would like to thank Todd for all of his hard work and efforts with our organization. Todd has been a big part of our team for more than half a decade, including our Stanley Cup run in 2018, and we wish him and his family all the best moving forward.”

The move tells a tale of two coaches and is a basic admission that the Capitals made the wrong decision two years ago. The team won the 2018 Stanley Cup Championship under Barry Trotz, with Reirden as its main assistant. However, with Trotz’ contract up, Washington had to decide whether to pay up or let Trotz walk and bring in Reirden to replace him. The team, which has hired first-year coaches in five of its last six hires, decided to go that way with Reirden as well.

Reirden’s regular season record was quite good with a 89-46-16 record in 151 games. However, the team couldn’t win in the playoffs with the team falling in the first round in 2019 to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games and then the team’s dismal performance this year against the Islanders, which included winning just one game of their round-robin matchup in the East, leaving the team facing a quality first-round matchup in New York.

So, it seemed almost fitting that Reirden’s last series was against Trotz, who was paid by the New York Islanders and the head coach has turned the inconsistent franchise around. The Islanders dominated their series with Washington and made it quite clear to the Capitals organization that they made a mistake two years ago.

The team now will have to find a new head coach and with their team aging and little time remaining for their star, Alex Ovechkin, who will be turning 35 in three weeks. The team will likely be forced to pay up and bring in a veteran coach and the team has quite a few options available to them, including Gerard Gallant, Peter Laviolette, Bruce Boudreau and Mike Babcock. If the team doesn’t want to pay that price, there are other former head coaches available as well, including Mike Yeo, John Stevens and Kirk Muller. With a win-now roster, the Capitals could be the prime job opening for those coaches.

As for Reirden, the coach is known to be an excellent special teams coach and likely will return to that role quickly as several teams will be looking to upgrade there. Reirden, who spent four years in Pittsburgh with Sidney Crosby, could be a candidate to return there considering their urgency to win next year as well. He had two years remaining on his contract with the Capitals.

Snapshots: Stamkos, Gallagher, Slovakia

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With the Tampa Bay Lightning preparing to face the rival Boston Bruins in the second round in a collision of arguably the two best teams in the NHL, the Bolts were hoping to be at full strength with face of the franchise Steven Stamkos back in the lineup. However, that won’t be the case. Head coach Jon Cooper told the media, including The Athletic’s Lightning writer Joe Smith, that Stamkos is still not available due to injury. Rather than reiterating the indefinite timeline of Stamkos’ rehab, Cooper merely stated “It’s pointless to keep asking about it.” Stamkos is still battling a core injury suffered back in March and has far exceeded the initial six-to-eight week timeline with the player and team still seemingly having no idea of when he might be ready to return. If Stamkos cannot return to face Tampa’s potentially toughest test in Boston, the odds are that he may not play in the postseason at all.

  • Fan favorite Montreal Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher had his season come to an end prematurely as he suffered a broken jaw on a cross check from Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Matt Niskanen in Game Five of the teams’ first round series. Gallagher only ended up missing one game, as the Habs were eliminated by a Game Six loss on Friday night. Meeting with the media today, GM Marc Bergevin updated Gallagher’s status, announcing that he underwent successful surgery in Toronto and is returning to his home in British Columbia today. Additionally, Bergevin revealed that Gallagher had been injured long before his run-in with Niskanen, suffering a hip tear in Montreal’s qualifying round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, he played through the injury and it was solely that broken jaw that kept him from playing in the Canadiens’ season finale.
  • Several other recently-eliminated players could be back in action sooner rather than later. Sport SK in Slovakia reports that several members of the Slovakian Tipsport Liga are expecting active NHLers to be acquired via contract or loan to begin working out and playing prior to NHL training camps beginning in November. HK Kosice may have the largest haul still to come, with Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Martin Marincin and Calgary Flames prospect Martin Pospisil to be loaned to the team and Ottawa Senators RFA Christian Jaros and free agent forward Tomas Jurco expected to sign. Tampa Bay defenseman Erik Cernak also has ties to the club, but with the Lighting still alive in the postseason and hoping to sty that way for a while longer, he may not need the early start for next season. Slovan Bratislava, which has already received a handful of prospects on loan, are expecting another in the more high-profile Martin Fehervary, the promising defenseman from the Washington Capitals.

Pacific Notes: Coyotes, Myers, Oilers Goaltending

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Prior to Wednesday’s eventual elimination game, Coyotes CEO Xavier Gutierrez spoke with Arizona Sports 98.7 (audio link) to discuss head coach Rick Tocchet and their GM situation, among other things.  He gave his bench boss a vote of confidence, stating that Tocchet has done “an incredible job”.  This was his third season behind the bench and Arizona’s first playoff appearance over that span.  While their series against Colorado certainly didn’t end the way they were hoping for, the fact that got past Nashville in the Qualifying Round was still a step in the right direction.

As for their plans to fill their GM vacancy, Gutierrez indicated that they haven’t done a lot of work on that front since John Chayka’s resignation.  As things stand, the plan is to evaluate things now that they’ve been eliminated.  Assistant GM Steve Sullivan is currently filling the role on an interim basis and will be a candidate for the full-time position.

Elsewhere from the Pacific Division:

  • Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers has missed the last three games of their series against St. Louis and he won’t be back for the rest of it. TSN’s Farhan Lalji relays (Twitter link) that the blueliner is dealing with a slightly separated shoulder and if Vancouver is able to advance, he should be cleared to return for the second round.  The Canucks will have a chance to eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champions on Friday night.
  • While figuring out what to do with their goaltending will be an important item on Oilers GM Ken Holland’s to-do list this offseason, Sportsnet’s Mark Spector cautions that the team should be patient on filling their pending vacancy alongside Mikko Koskinen. Veteran Mike Smith is a pending unrestricted free agent and could return but with minimal significant upgrades available on the UFA market, looking at the trade route may be the best way to go.  With so many teams looking to free up cap space though, goalie options via trade may take some time to materialize.

Snapshots: Johnson, Boudreau, Hall

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The Pittsburgh Penguins were upset by the Montreal Canadiens in the qualification round, meaning they didn’t qualify for the regular 16-team Stanley Cup playoffs. That’s the first time since 2006, meaning it was easy to understand why GM Jim Rutherford wants to make some changes. What might be less easy to understand is Rutherford’s continued defense of Jack Johnson, which continued today in a piece by Josh Yohe of The Athletic.

Here’s my summary of this situation. Maybe Jack Johnson isn’t as good as I think he is. Maybe. But he’s not as bad as all of the anti-Jack Johnson people think he is. I’ll tell you what he is: He’s a solid, third-pairing defenseman if he’s playing with the right guy. He’s a player that I happen to really like and I think he’s a better player than a lot of people want to give him credit for.

Johnson has never had strong analytics behind his play, but through the first part of his career, produced consistent offensive numbers in bigger minutes. Rutherford and the Penguins signed him to a five-year, $16.25MM deal in 2018 that still has three seasons remaining. If changes are coming, it doesn’t currently look like Johnson is one, though Rutherford has been known to reconsider early-offseason comments before.

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have an assistant coach opening beside Sheldon Keefe after Paul McFarland returned to the OHL to take over head coaching and GM duties of the Kingston Frontenacs. Speculation immediately went to former Maple Leafs player Bruce Boudreau, who is looking for work after being fired by the Minnesota Wild this season. Boudreau has long been a candidate to join the Maple Leafs given his ties to and support of the organization, and now James Mirtle of The Athletic reports that the team asked Minnesota for permission to speak with him over the last few months. Boudreau, understandably, is looking for another head coaching opportunity before considering an assistant job, but is “intrigued by the idea” according to Mirtle.
  • The Arizona Coyotes were outscored 14-2 by the Colorado Avalanche in their final two games of the postseason and now have plenty of work to do this offseason. Not only do they have Steve Sullivan quickly taking the reins as GM after the departure of John Chayka, but have a huge decision to make on the future of Taylor Hall. The 28-year-old forward is a pending free agent, and Craig Button of TSN doesn’t believe the Coyotes should even entertain re-signing him. Button explains that the Coyotes don’t have the supporting cast to justify signing Hall to an expensive, long-term contract—though he then suggests that Hall should be looking for a one-year deal with a contender to rebuild his value.

Snapshots: Hurricanes, Dvorak, Vermont

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With the Carolina Hurricanes exiting the postseason this afternoon following a Game Five loss to the Boston Bruins, the conditions surrounding their acquisition of defenseman Sami Vatanen have been finalized. Initially, the ’Canes had traded for Vatanen from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Janne Kuokkanen, Fredrik Claesson, and a conditional draft pick with the following conditions: the Devils would get a 2020 fourth-round pick if Vatanen appeared in at least five regular season games and a 2020 third round pick if Vatanen played in 12 regular season games or 70% of the team’s playoff games; if Vatanen did not appear in at least five regular season games for Carolina, then the Devils would get no pick at all. However, these conditions had to be altered due to Vatanen being unable to suit up for a regular season game with Carolina prior to the league’s pause. These new conditions locked in a fourth-round return for New Jersey as long as Vatanen played in at least two games of the Hurricanes’ qualifying round series with the New York Rangers, which he did. In order for the pick to bump up to a 2020 third-rounder, Vatanen had to play in 70% of the Hurricanes’ remaining playoff games. Four of five games against the Bruins met that benchmark, meaning Carolina will send their own 2020 third-round pick to the Devils, as outlined by CapFriendly. While Vatanen’s three points in a three-game sweep of the Rangers was a nice ’Canes debut for the defender, his zero points and -3 rating against the Bruins makes the increased cost of his acquisition somewhat of a bitter pill.

  • As always, news of injuries emerges as series are completed. A quick note following tonight’s dismissal of the Arizona Coyotes comes directly from head coach Rick Tocchet. ’Yotes beat writer Craig Morgan relays that center Christian Dvorak played the entirety of the team’s first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche and the latter half of their qualifying round series versus the Nashville Predators with a separated shoulder. Dvorak was a non-factor in the first round, being held off the score sheet entirely and limited to 14 minutes of ice time or less in four of five games. This injury undoubtedly contributed to Dvorak’s struggles against the Avalanche, but his efforts would not have made much of a difference in somewhat of a one-sided series.
  • Is the impact of Mike Babcock joining the staff at the University of Vermont already showing? Jeff Cox of The New England Hockey Journal reports that Jordan Kaplan, one of the top scorers at Sacred Heart this past season, will transfer to Vermont. Kaplan’s 24 points this year would have been considerably better than anyone on the Catamounts and will be a major boost to a struggling program. Additionally, the program announced their recruiting class and it includes another transfer in Miami’s Noah Jordan as well as 2020 NHL Draft prospect Raimonds Vitolins, a Latvian standout who could hear his name called in November. If he is drafted, Vitolins would be just the second player on the current Catamounts roster to have been drafted, joining Minnesota Wild pick Bryce Misley, who is entering his senior season with little to show for the past three years.

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